Proportional Response

A hasty act, committed by a distraught American soldier seeking his version of justice, kills the grandson of a powerful Afghan Minister.

Seeking retribution, the honor bound Afghan asks his Iranian allies to enact revenge, inflicting pain on American civilians. On a day reserved for celebration, the attackers plan a daring, suicidal attack on one unsuspecting American Main Street. Boldly unraveling this plot in the midst of America's longest war is a keen American diplomat, Ben Brownwell.

Using his sharp diplomatic skills and the help of a beautiful British diplomat plus fellow national security professionals, Ben races against time to protect innocent Americans. Never knowing that his enemies are closer than he realizes, or that the attackers are driven by their own pursuit of glory and misguided faith, Ben assembles an incomplete picture of an attack no one could ever expect.

Harboring disbelief that a diplomat could discover what U.S. Intelligence missed and hampered by inflexible bureaucrats, Ben bends the rules to do the right thing. Careening towards an explosive confrontation in the American heartland with far-reaching consequences, ordinary and extraordinary people from different cultures, backgrounds, and religions fashion their own form of retribution. Each man and woman, driven by motivations as unique as their own fingerprint, must decide how far they will go to ensure they achieve their own form of proportional justice.

Tim Enright is a State Department Foreign Service Officer who has served in Iraq, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Albania, and Turkey. He previously served with the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan. He is married with four children, hails from Minnesota, and although he and his family wander the world seeking adventures, when in the United States he now calls Virginia home.